Navajas a la Plancha

Navajas a la plancha are Galician, at home along the rías where good shellfish needs very little interference. Live razor clams go onto a fierce plancha, then receive garlic, parsley, olive oil, and just enough lemon to sharpen their own briny liquor. Nothing is battered or buried under sauce. The clam remains the dish.

Clearing the sand matters, but the method that decides the texture is the cooking. Heat the plancha properly, spread the clams in one layer, and lift each one the moment it opens and turns pearly. A moment too long and the sweet flesh tightens like an elastic band. Garlic and parsley go on only after the shells open, because burnt garlic has no business correcting good shellfish.

Far from Galicia, buy locally harvested live razor clams from a fishmonger you trust. A straight-shelled longueirón is the closest substitute and cooks by the same method, though its flesh is usually a little firmer. Atlantic jackknife clams also work; they are often larger, so follow the opaque flesh rather than the clock. My Margin says only this beside the cooking time: serve the first batch before anyone has time to ask when supper is coming.